Warm You Up
by Shrimp Mayo
Summary: Or the five times Tara sits alone by the fire and the one time Rosita joins her.


Title: Warm You Up  
Pairing: Tara x Rosita  
Prompt: Imagine your OTP cuddling by the fireplace.  
Summary: Or the five times Tara sits alone by the fire and the one time Rosita joins her.  
Notes: I'm pretty sure they don't do campfires, but for the sake of the story, let's say they do.  
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, the characters used and mentioned, nor the prompt given. They all belong to their respective owners. I simply needed for this to happen. Mistakes and inaccuracies are all mine though. Enjoy.  
xoxo  
The first time Tara sat in front of the campfire was the first night since she and Glenn joined Abraham and his group. The fire was low and almost trickling to its final moments, but she kept her eyes locked on it. She didn't feel the warmth it tried to radiate. She wasn't there. In her mind, she was still at the prison, eyes locked on the beheaded form of the old man.  
The familiar shivers of fear and guilt raked through her.  
She hugged her knees closer to herself as she attention shifted to the Asian man. He was asleep, but clutched the picture tightly in his grip. It ate at her all much more. She was part of why this man was separated from his happy ending. She was part of that monstrosity.  
Abraham looked up at her from where he was coddling Eugene. The buff man watched her curiously, his eyes flickering between her and Glenn. She almost laughed had she the energy in her. She never felt like laughing anymore.  
She felt a presence move towards her and she stood up immediately. Without even a glance back at the person, she moved nearer to Glenn and situated herself where she could see any and all possible threats. She would get this man to his wife.  
She would lay down her life as repentance for what she had done.  
On the other side of the camp, Rosita sat by the campfire, worry clouding her features.  
xoxo  
The second time Tara sat in front of the campfire, she was slipping in and out of consciousness. She hadn't slept for days. She couldn't sleep. Every time she tried to close her eyes, she would get flashes of that day. It unnerved her to no end. The ghosts of the past were still there, haunting her with images she would rather live without. But that was it, wasn't it? She had to live with that. It was her fault after all. This was her karma. She only hoped that getting Glenn to Maggie would assuage her guilt even by just a fraction. It was highly unlikely, she knew that, but she couldn't stop wishing.  
She saw them behind her eyelids. She saw her sister holding a bloody Megan in her hands. She saw the Walkers. She saw madness. She saw death.  
She wiped a tear as nonchalantly as she could. She knew no one was paying attention to her anyway, so why had she bothered. She merely stared at the fire, hoping that putting all her attemtion on the inferno would keep her mind from the ghoulish nightmares that continued to dance around her thoughts.  
There were moments she blamed herself, of course. She had been the one to let Bryan into their lives. And she had stood by and done nothing when Bryan drove their lives to the ground. She let her sister and niece die. She let it all happen.  
She closed her eyes, letting another tear drop. It was her fault and she deserved to be punished. She would welcome the horrors her mind could conjure up. They were of her own doing. It was right that she only suffer through them.  
On the other side of the fire, Rosita watched her. She watched as Tara had valiantly fought off sleep, only to succumb to the darkness after a while. She knew Tara wasn't asleep, and merely had her eyes closed. She didn't understand why she would do that, and she was worried that whatever reason it was, it would ruin the girl before her. Rosita felt it, that pull inside. She felt the want and need to protect this woman. It had always been a part of her to protect people. But for Tara, she wondered how far she would be willing to go.  
xoxo  
The third time Tara sat by the campfire was fairly nice and jovial. Eugene continued to keep talking to her about things that she had no idea of whatsoever. He continued to drone on and on in his endless babbling, and Tara had developed the rather useful ability of toning him out. Eugene kept mumbling into his canned soup about saving the world and honestly, Tara toned him out too. Glenn was sulking in the corner, probably wondering about Maggie or whatever. Tara watched on, feeling that guilt rise up once more.  
"Here," she heard. Tara's eyes turned from the man that saved her to the woman holding out a can of something. Tara honestly did not know. Nor did she care. Her eyes were focused on the girl's cleavage, her mouth hanging agape as she tried to breath normally. Tara found herself fixed on the dip between the girl's mound and her eyes followed the trail a lone sweat made. She unconsciously licked her lips, eyes not once straying from the feast in front of her.  
For her part, Rosita was fairly uncomfortable. Not because of the way Tara was staring at her chest. Oh, who was she kidding? Of course it was because of the way Tara was staring at her chest. It was driving her heart mad and she couldn't help the gulp she took. She saw the way Tara's eyes darkened and how her tongue dipped out to wet her lips. Rosita almost groaned out loud, but the years of training she had allowed her to regain composure as she pushed the can forward, snapping Tara's attention away from her. She saw the way Tara's cheeks flushed and couldn't help her smirk. "Eat up," she husked out to the flustered girl before she made her way to the other side of the campfire. Tara avoided her eyes for the rest of the day, and Rosita was more than thankful for the privacy to let her gather her thoughts.  
xoxo  
The fourth time Tara sat in front of the campfire, she was once again slipping in and out of sleep. She still had the images, and they only seemed to get worse by the hour. She still felt as though she was doing nothing to help Glenn. They were still nowhere near finding Maggie and she wanted to beat her head on a rock because of it.  
She had slipped into sleep for the umpteenth time that night. The images that haunted her were frighteningly vivid. The sounds far too real for it to be a dream. She was there again, in that prison. She was shaking, shouting to get people's attention. But Bryan was a madman. He was too far gone. She couldn't stop her. No one could. She felt a hand clamp around her arm. She turned to see familiar warm eyes staring back at her. Alicia. God, Alicia. She missed her so much. The promise that Alicia would find her fell from her ex-girlfriend's lips again. And then Alicia was moving. Tara tried to grasp at her, to hold her back. She would only die if she pushed forward. She didn't want for that to happen. She didn't want for anything like this to happen.  
But Alicia had only turned back for a moment to shoot her a smile - a smile full of the promise that she would find Tara after all these blew over. Tara knew she wouldn't be able to keep that promise. Alicia wouldn't find Tara. It would be the other way around and Alicia would be-  
Her eyes snapped open to meet a frightened pair. The word left her lips in a soft whisper, startling the woman in front of her. "Dead."  
Tara half-choked, half-sobbed as the images bombarded her again. She shook her head, eager to rid herself of the images of her ex-girlfriend's lifeless body. At least she didn't turn. She knew Alicia liked that fact.  
Rosita frowned at the quivering form of the girl in front of her. Tara had been having a nightmare, obviously, and Rosita knew it was taking its toll on the girl. She didn't know any 0ther way to help her, she really didn't know Tara that well after all, so she did the first thing that came to mind. She moved her arms around Tara and held her.  
It didn't garner the reaction she expected as Tara pushed her away, with tears in her eyes, and walked away. Rosita sat shocked, the cackling of the fire the only sound in the night, as she stared at the huddled form of Tara, wondering how on earth she could help her if she kept pushing her away.  
xoxo  
Tara suffered through the mindless babble of Eugene as they trekked the path to Terminus. She paid him no mind, grunting every now and then to make it seem as though she was listening to whatever the fuck he had to say. Her thoughts were elsewhere. More specifically, her thoughts were on Rosita, who walked a few paces behind them. Tara could feel the girl's eyes on her, and it was more than obvious that they were avoiding each other.  
They passed by one of Maggie's messages to Glenn and Tara felt hope swell up inside her. She could still get Glenn to Maggie. She could still do this.  
Rosita saw the sign and understood the look of hope on the two new members of their group. She felt the foreboding sign of them leaving. Her eyes found Tara again. Tara would leave, probably. But there was also the hope that once Tara completed her task, she could come with to DC.  
She could only hope.  
xoxo  
The fifth time Tara sat in front of the campfire, it was cold and dark in the night. The campfire was already dying out and Tara had no need to keep warm anymore. Her energy was rising with the increasing possibility of finding Maggie.  
She almost didn't notice Abraham finding a comfortable spot next to her. She did give a grunt of approval to the company. Abraham was an amusing man to be with. Tara almost laughed when he insinuated that she was in love with Glenn. But her laughter got caught in her throat when he mentioned Rosita. She had been trying to ignore that thing, whatever it was, with Rosita.  
She pushed the thoughts back and focused on something that she could grasp - her guilt. She talked to Abraham about everything. And it felt kind of good to have someone other than Glenn know.  
She didn't get a wink of sleep that night, but she felt undeniably lighter the next day.  
xoxo  
Things didn't work out well. She had a limp and Glenn wanted to continue on. She couldn't say no to him, and Rosita saw this. So she spoke up for her. Tara watched in amazement. Not even Alicia had- No. She couldn't ever compare Rosita to Alicia. It just wasn't right.  
But it didn't erase the fact that Rosita stood up for her. A lot of good it did, though, but it was the thought that counted. And when they shared that hug at the mouth of the tunnel, Tara whispered her thanks. She knew Rosita had been surprised, especially with the tension between them, but she had to say it. There was a very good chance that they wouldn't survive the tunnel.  
But this was her punishment. She had to push forward. She didn't spare a second glance back as she and Glenn made their way into the darkness.  
xoxo  
Gunshots.  
She almost laughed out loud.  
There were people that came to save them.  
And then the laughter got caught in her throat once more as she saw who it was.  
She couldn't believe she did it. She got them back together.  
"Shit, are you okay?" Rosita was the first at her side and succesfully managed to roll the stone away at her first try. Her hands immediately went to inspect Tara's leg. Tara was still a bit hazy about everything that happened and snapped out of it only when her leg began to sting. She cursed under her breath and that got Rosita to pause. "Are you okay, Tara?"  
"Yeah. I'll live," Tara assured as she tried to stand up. A hand on her shoulder prevented her from doing so. She looked up to be met with Rosita's questioning eyes.  
"That wasn't what I asked. Are you okay?" Rosita repeated her question, and this time, Tara understood.  
She nodded and let out a smile. Her eyes snapped to the reunited couple before returning to the woman before her. "I'm okay."  
Rosita exhaled a relieved breath as she let her forehead rest against Tara's. "That's good. I thought I'd lost you."  
"You won't get rid of me that easily," Tara replied with a cheeky grin. She did wince, however, when her leg began to pulsate with pain.  
Rosita quickly got to work to patching up Tara's leg, looking up to smile every now and then. "I'm glad."  
xoxo  
Rosita was securing the end of the tunnel and making a small barricade to keep them safe for the night. Tara was stood against the wall, half her body propped up on the stick crutch Rosita had made for her.  
"It's safe," Rosita announced after putting the finishing touches. It was getting dark quick and the campfire in the depth of the tunnel was looking awfully inviting. She turned to Tara and gestured to the others. "Let's go back?"  
"I want to talk to you for a while," Tara answered, still not moving from her spot.  
Rosita arched a brow as she placed her hands on her hips. "What?"  
"I'm sorry for pushing you away the other night. I just had a nightmare and I guess I panicked and I'm still getting those images from-" A finger on her lips silenced Tara. She looked up to find that Rosita had moved closer to her during her little rant. In fact, Rosita had moved so close that Tara could smell everything that was Rosita - a spicy yet subtly scent that was everything that Rosita was.  
"It's fine, as long as you don't push me away now." That was all the warning Tara got before she felt warm lips connect with hers in the most glorious embrace she had ever experienced. Her eyes slammed shut as she just let herself feel, letting her hands snake from Rosita's back until they wove into dark lockes. Rosita let out a soft grunt when she felt Tara's hand on her hair and her hand slammed at the wall to pin the girl.  
They parted for air, however hesitantly, but kept their foreheads together, breaths mixing together in something that held more than promises of a future.  
"You didn't push me away," Rosita observed.  
"I had no nightmares when I closed my eyes so no reason at all to push you away."  
Rosita's grin grew. "Maybe I should keep kissing you. You know, to keep the nightmares away?"  
"I think you should."  
xoxo  
The sixth time Tara sat in front of a campfire, she wasn't alone. It was then that it dawned on her that she had never been alone. Rosita had always been by her side, in one way or the other.  
The sixth time Tara sat in front of a campfire, she saw an image that was unlike those she saw before. She gazed at Glenn and Maggie, and saw love and hope. She believed. She looked at Bobe and Sasha, and saw friendship and acceptance. She turned to Abraham and Eugene, and saw strength and courage.  
And then she turned to the woman who sat by her side, head laying comfortably on Tara's shoulder. Rosita smiled up at her, a small, lazy grin on her lips. Tara saw everything.  
For the first time in forever, she saw a light in the fucked up world they lived in.  
Rosita entwined their fingers as she slid the blanket to wrap around the both of them. It wasn't a futire set in stone, nor was it a straight path, but she had every bit of reason to fight for it, reinanimated corpses be damned.  
—-Finit—-


End file.
